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Albert Camus
:"Albert Camus was a French Algerian philosopher, author, and journalist. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44 in 1957, the second-youngest recipient in history. :Camus was born in Algeria to French parents. He spent his childhood in a poor neighbourhood and later studied philosophy at the University of Algiers. He was in Paris when the Germans invaded France during World War II. Camus tried to flee but finally joined the French Resistance where he served as editor-in-chief at Combat, an outlawed newspaper. After the war, he was a celebrity figure and gave many lectures around the world. He married twice but had many extramarital affairs. Camus was politically active. He was part of the Left that opposed the Soviet Union because of its totalitarianism. Camus was a moralist and leaned towards anarcho-syndicalism. ... :Philosophically, Camus's views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. He is also considered to be an existentialist, even though he firmly rejected the term throughout his lifetime." Philosophy (spoilers, TW: sui, sui-ide) *Existentialism :"Even though Camus is mostly connected to Absurdism, he is routinely categorized as an Existentialist, a term he rejected on several occasions. :Camus himself said his philosophical origins lay in ancient Greek philosophy, Nietzsche, and 17th-century moralists whereas existentialism arises from 19th- and early-20th-century philosophy such as Kierkegaard, Karl Jaspers, and Heidegger. He also said his work, The Myth of Sisyphus, was a criticism of various aspects of existentialism. Camus was rejecting existentialism as a philosophy, but his critique was mostly focusing on Sartrean existentialism, and to a lesser extent on religious existentialism. He thought that the importance of history held by Marx and Sartre was incompatible with his belief in human freedom. David Sherman and others also suggest the rivalry between Sartre and Camus also played a part in his rejection of existentialism. David Simpson argues further that his humanism and belief in human nature set him apart from the existentialist doctrine that existence precedes essence. :On the other hand, Camus focused most of his philosophy around existential questions. The absurdity of life, the inevitable ending (death) is highlighted in his acts. His belief that the absurd—life being void of meaning, or man's inability to know that meaning if it were to exist—was something that man should embrace. His anti-Christianity, his commitment to individual moral freedom and responsibility are only a few of the similarities with other existential writers. More importantly, Camus addressed one of the fundamental questions of existentialism: the problem of suicide. He wrote: "There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide." Camus viewed the question of suicide as arising naturally as a solution to the absurdity of life." *Absurdism :"Many existentialist writers have addressed the Absurd, each with their own interpretation of what it is and what makes it important. Kierkegaard explains that the absurdity of religious truths prevents us from reaching God rationally. Sartre recognizes the absurdity of individual experience. Camus's thoughts on the Absurd begins with his first cycle of books and the literary essay The Myth of Sisyphus, (Le Mythe de Sisyphe), his major work on the subject. ... :Camus follows Sartre's definition of the Absurd: "That which is meaningless. Thus man's existence is absurd because his contingency finds no external justification". The Absurd is created because man, who is placed in an unintelligent universe, realises that human values are not founded on a solid external component; or as Camus himself explains, the Absurd is the result of the "confrontation between human need and the unreasonable silence of the world." Even though absurdity is inescapable, Camus does not drift towards nihilism. But the realization of absurdity leads to the question: Why should someone continue to live? Suicide is an option that Camus firmly dismisses as the renunciation of human values and freedom. Rather, he proposes we accept that absurdity is a part of our lives and live with it." *Revolt :"Camus is known for articulating the case for revolting against any kind of oppression, injustice, or whatever disrespects the human condition. He is cautious enough, however, to set the limits on the rebellion. L'Homme révolté (The Rebel) explains in detail his thoughts on the issue. There, he builds upon the absurd (described in The Myth of Sisyphus) but goes further. In the introduction, where he examines the metaphysics of rebellion, he concludes with the phrase "I revolt, therefore we exist" implying the recognition of a common human condition. Camus also delineates the difference between revolution and rebellion and notices that history has shown that the rebel's revolution might easily end up as an oppressive regime. So he places importance on the morals accompanying the revolution. Camus poses a crucial question: Is it possible for humans to act in an ethical and meaningful manner, in a silent universe? According to him the answer is yes, as the experience and awareness of the Absurd creates the moral values and also sets the limits of our actions. Camus separates the modern form of rebellion into two modes. First, there is the metaphysical rebellion, which is "the movement by which man protests against his condition and against the whole of creation." The other mode, historical rebellion, is the attempt to materialize the abstract spirit of metaphysical rebellion and change the world. In this attempt, the rebel must balance between the evil of the world and the intrinsic evil which every revolt carries, and not cause any unjustifiable suffering." Politics :"After the War, Camus lived in Paris with Faure, who gave birth to twins—Catherine and Jean—in 1945. ... During this period he completed the second cycle of his work, with the novel L'Homme révolté (The Rebel). Camus attacked totalitarian communism while advocating for libertarian socialism and anarcho-syndicalism.Hayden, Patrick (9 February 2016). Camus and the Challenge of Political Thought: Between Despair and Hope. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-52583-3. Upsetting many of his colleagues and contemporaries in France with his rejection of communism, the book brought about the final split with Sartre." :"Camus was a moralist; he claimed morality should guide politics. While he did not deny that morals change over time, he rejected the classical Marxist doctrine that history defines morality. :Camus was also strongly critical of authoritarian communism, especially in the case of Soviet Marxism, which he considered totalitarian. Camus rebuked Soviet apologists and their "decision to call total servitude freedom". As a proponent of libertarian socialism, he claimed the USSR was not socialist, and the United States was not liberal. His fierce critique of the USSR caused him to clash with others on the political left, most notably with his friend Jean-Paul Sartre. :Active in the French Resistance to the German occupation of France during World War II, Camus wrote for and edited the famous Resistance journal Combat. Of the French collaborationneeded with the German occupiers, he wrote: "Now the only moral value is courage, which is useful here for judging the puppets and chatterboxes who pretend to speak in the name of the people." After France's liberation, Camus remarked, "This country does not need a Talleyrand, but a Saint-Just." The reality of the bloody postwar tribunals soon changed his mind: Camus publicly reversed himself and became a lifelong opponent of capital punishment. :Camus leaned towards anarchism, a tendency that intensified in the 1950s, when he came to believe that the Soviet model was morally bankrupt. Camus was firmly against any kind of exploitation, authority and property, bosses, the State and centralisation. Philosophy professor David Sherman considers Camus an anarcho-syndicalist. Graeme Nicholson considers Camus an existentialist anarchist. :The anarchist André Prudhommeaux first introduced him at a meeting of the Cercle des Étudiants Anarchistes (Anarchist Student Circle) in 1948 as a sympathiser familiar with anarchist thought. Camus wrote for anarchist publications such as Le Libertaire, La Révolution prolétarienne, and Solidaridad Obrera (Workers' Solidarity), the organ of the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) (National Confederation of Labor)." |European Journal of Political Theory:/Illing (2017)/Camus and Nietzsche on politics in an age of absurdity> :"Nietzsche argued that absurdity—and by extension, nihilism—followed from the collapse of Western metaphysics. On his account, metaphysics was an umbrella term, encompassing all of religion and traditional morality. These transcendental doctrines, Nietzsche claimed, ‘‘assumed that man could have a knowledge of absolute values, and thus granted him adequate perception for the most important things’’ (2006: 6). In this way, metaphysics was an ‘‘antidote against practical and theoretical nihilism’’ (2006: 6). However, due to various cultural and scientific movements, metaphysical principles began to lose their authority in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The all-too-human origins of man’s highest values were exposed, and ‘‘the whole universe seemed to have been transvalued and to have lost its significance’’ (Nietzsche, 2006: 7). Dealing with the consequences of this loss was the guiding aim of Nietzsche’s critical project. It became the dominant theme of Camus’ work as well. In political essays, for example, Camus discusses Nietzsche in detail and similarly argues that his ‘‘age was afflicted with nihilism’’ (Camus, 2006: 100). And in broader works such as The Rebel, Camus (b) also suggests that liberal modernity encountered absurdity following the Enlightenment project but failed to go beyond it. The result of this failure, he concluded, was nihilism." :"Camus regards Nietzsche as a harbinger of the age of absurdity. Nietzsche’s thought prefigures the postmodern turn in Western philosophy, which Camus associates with the emergence of absurdity and nihilism as metaphysical and social problems. On the one hand, as the above passage from The Gay Science suggests, Nietzsche senses the significance of the loss of transcendentals in human life. For the individual, such ideals are the locus of meaning and value. On the other hand, at the collective level, Nietzsche shows how absurdity (or the absence of transcendentals) undercuts normative consensus in society and creates a moral vacuum in the political realm. This, in short, was the link between absurdity and politics for Camus. Absent traditional sources of transcendence, political ideologies became grounds for meaning and action in contemporary life" Astrology Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913, at 2:00 AM in Mondovi, Algeria. This moment corresponds to an astrological signature characterised by a Scorpio sun (H2), Aquarius moon (H6) and Virgo-rising. Camus was born at the beginning of the recent Pluto in Cancer generation (H10), with his lunar North Node in Pisces (H6). Mercury in Sagittarius (H3) and Saturn in Gemini (H9), has a Gemini-Sagittarian duality. Lilith Lilith in Pisces (H6) conjunct North Node | trine Mars in Cancer (H10). (see Lilith Aspects#North Node) Quotes “Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.” References ---- }} Category:Philosophers Category:Philosophy Category:Existentialism Category:France Category:Neurodivergent People Category:Pluto in Cancer Category:NN in Pisces Category:Sun in Scorpio Category:Sun in H2 Category:Moon in Aquarius Category:Moon in H6 Category:Virgo-rising Category:Pluto in H10 Category:NN in H6 Category:Mercury in Sagittarius Category:Saturn in H9